Provision of consultancy services to measure the impact of the project Livelihoods Protection and Recovery Program in Eastern and Southern Ukraine

1.Who is the Danish Refugee Council?

Founded in 1956, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading international NGO and one of the few with a specific expertise in forced displacement. Active in 40 countries with 9,000 employees and supported by 7,500 volunteers, DRC protects, advocates, and builds sustainable futures for refugees and other displacement affected people and communities. DRC works during displacement at all stages: In the acute crisis, in displacement, when settling and integrating in a new place, or upon return. DRC provides protection and life-saving humanitarian assistance; supports displaced persons in becoming self-reliant and included into hosting societies; and works with civil society and responsible authorities to promote protection of rights and peaceful coexistence.

DRC has been in Ukraine since 2014 and has expanded operations significantly since 24 February 2022 to deliver lifesaving assistance and emergency responses to people affected by the war. Furthermore, DRC is one of the key partners to national authorities to address needs for risk education, demining, and removal of explosive remnants of war. Since the escalation of the conflict in 2022, DRC is present in Lviv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Sloviansk, Mykolaiv, and Kherson. In Ukraine, DRC currently implements Shelter, Protection (including Legal Assistance), Non-Food Items, Cash, Economic Recovery, as well as HDP sectors of work.

2. Purpose of the consultancy

The Danish Refugee Council based in Ukraine seeks proposals from a consultant to measure the impact of the project Livelihoods Protection and Recovery Program in order to measure key impact outcomes outlined below.

During the 13-months DRC intervention, the project consisted of three outputs to reach three overall project outcomes. The purpose of the consultancy is to measure DRC’s impact according to these.

Outcomes and Outputs:

Outcome 1**:** Improving Agricultural Outputs of Small-Scale Farming through cash assistance

Output 1**:** Support rural households to restore and protect their livelihoods, as well as address increased needs which have arisen from the higher costs of agricultural inputs and reduce the uptake of negative coping mechanisms.

Outcome 2**:** Restoring Livelihoods through support market functionality and productivity, and support people in need to have better access to basic goods and services through the revival of key businesses

Output 2**:** Providing access to finance to micro, small and medium business in tandem with the provision of critical coaching services to businesses in the midst of these changing market conditions will strengthen the local level resilience of these businesses.

Outcome 3**:** Generate new livelihood opportunities to support businesses and individuals alike to access labour to increase economic opportunity and outcome

Output 3**:** Target individuals with on the job and off-site training in order to provide access to skills and opportunities for employment in sectors which are in high demand in target areas.

NB: DRC subject matter specialists will provide technical training, guidance, and approval on all material developed to ensure technical validity, relevance, and quality.

3. Background

Before the conflict, Ukraine was a major agricultural producer, contributing significantly to global sunflower oil, barley, corn, and wheat supplies. The sector, comprising both small subsistence farms and large commercial operations, benefited from fertile soil and favorable climates. However, it faced challenges like land ownership disputes, outdated techniques, and limited financial access for smaller farmers. The conflict has exacerbated these issues, leading to decreased productivity, disrupted markets, and financial strain on farmers highlighting the need for resilience and modern farming practices.

The onset of the escalation in conflict also impacted micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs), as well as the viability of livelihood opportunities. The conflict has impacted existing businesses, and stunted the creation of new businesses, both due to the large-scale migration of business owners and employees alike, as well as the absence of skilled workers. This in turn resulted in the lack of skilled workers that can be hired in new businesses. A lack of market-informed training programmes means that there are few pathways for the unemployed or underemployed population.

DRC, through an award from the USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) aimed to address the most critical livelihood needs across the four oblasts of Mykolaiv and Kherson (southern Ukraine) as well as Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk (eastern Ukraine), through evidence-based activities including sectoral cash to conflict-affected subsistence farmers, training and employment facilitation for vulnerable job seekers, and MSME support to conflict-affected business owners.

4. Objective of the Evaluation

Under the guidance of the Economic Recovery Team and the DRC Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Team, the objective of the Evaluation is to:

1. Measure three project outcomes:

   1. Improving agricultural outputs of small-scale farming through cash assistance
   2. Restoring Livelihoods through support market functionality and productivity, and support people in need to have better access to basic goods and services through the revival of key businesses
   3. Generate new livelihood opportunities to support businesses and individuals alike to access labour to increase economic opportunity and outcome

2. Prepare recommendations for further strategic integrated programme development between Economic Recovery and other sectors of DRC’s work in Ukraine and its monitoring and evaluation.

3. Conduct additional research and provide recommendations for DRC’s immediate subsequent programming in the same areas for Economic Recovery: DRC will implement a subsequent grant from the same donor in the areas where the endline is taking place. Therefore, recommendations for further programming will be paramount in this evaluation. This includes integrating baseline indicators (provide by DRC) for this subsequent grant into the evaluation TOR.

4. Conduct a baseline study for the new award that DRC has received to continue the project activities. This baseline study will help establish initial benchmarks and indicators to measure the impact of the new project phase.

5. The consultant is specifically required to:

   a. Conduct a participatory external evaluation on the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the action; through a mixed method approach (quantitative and qualitative methodologies), including household-level questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus-group discussions with beneficiaries, community members and stakeholders.

   b. Prepare an analytical report compliant with DRC Design Guide, which should include key findings, good practices, lessons learnt and recommendations for further programme development and M&E of such programmes based on the collected data in the research areas.

   c. Collect, clean, analyse, and hand over the entire raw evaluation data plus cleaned database of the evaluation.

   d. Develop and present the evaluation via a PowerPoint presentation, compliant with DRC Editorial Manual and inclusive of evaluation results, key findings, and recommendations for the attention of the programme and MEAL team.

   Scope of Work and Methodology

The evaluation will be conducted using a mixed methodology of face-to-face and remote (pending the security situation at the point of data collection) in Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts. A gender and age balance will be sought, as well as the inclusion of persons with disabilities to the extent possible.

Under the scope of this evaluation, the consultant will fulfill the following tasks:

• Develop a mixed-method project evaluation methodology, this includes evaluation questions as well as their criteria and definition;

• Evaluate the achievement of the project outcomes in selected communities and project stakeholders as well as the project’s relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability;

• Collect, clean, analyze, and hand over the entire raw evaluation data plus a cleaned database of the evaluation.

• Prepare an analytical report compliant with DRC’s guidelines, which should include key findings, good practices, lessons learned, and recommendations for the improvement of DRC’s integrated programming and further programme development and MEAL of such programmes based on the collected data in the research areas.

• Conduct a baseline study for the new project phase, including the design and implementation of data collection tools and methodologies to establish initial benchmarks and indicators (DRC will provide all necessary information on the indicator measurement)

  6. Deliverables – Please refer to RFP letter.
  7. Duration, timeline, and payment – Please refer to RFP letter.
  8. Proposed Composition of Team

  The following is a recommended structure subject to amendment and negotiation upon realisation of the consultants existing team structure:

  • Project Manager

  • Assistance Project Manager

  • Analysist/ Reporting Specialist

  • Team Leader

  • Enumerators (either through third party or inhouse)

  9. Eligibility, qualification, and experience required

  Essential:

  Qualification: A dedicated project manager must possess a master’s degree in international development or related social sciences.

  Experience: Consultant(s) or consultancy firm must have a minimum of 4 years of research or academic work.

  Further Requirements :

• Skills, knowledge, experience: Previous experience in conducting Economic Recovery (FSL) research and large-scale external evaluations within the Livelihoods sector in fragile/emergency contexts.

• A solid understanding of Ukraine’scultural/economiccontext through previous evaluations of programs (preferably economic recovery) in Ukraine

• Knowledge and practical experience in in designing and implementing research cycles in the humanitarian sector, specifically for impact measurement

• Language requirements: Written and spoken fluency in English; Working knowledge of Ukrainian and/or Russian is an advantage

  10. Technical Supervision

  The selected consultant will work under the supervision of:

• Isabelle Langerak, Economic Recovery Coordinator, [email protected]

• Isabel Pearson, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Manager, [email protected]

  11. Location and Support

  Address of Consultancy: Danish Refugee Council, 17/52 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Str. 01054 Kyiv, Ukraine

  The Consultant will provide her/his own computer and mobile telephone, including required software for data collection, analysis, and reporting.

  12. Travel

  Travel within the country will be required to facilitate data collection and support teams. Presentation of the report can be online if required.

  13. Submission process

  Please refer to Invitation letter RFP-UKR-003921 for detailed instructions on the submission process for your proposal.

  14. Evaluation of bids

  Please refer to the related section of Invitation Letter RFP-UKR-003921.